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2022-01-12
National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP);
The Trump administration's losses in federal court returned H-1B denial rates for employers in FY 2021 to pre-Trump levels, according to a new analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). Judges declared the Trump administration's actions to be unlawful, forcing changes in restrictive immigration policies that resulted in the denial rate for new H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2021 to drop to 4%, far lower than the denial rate of 24% in FY 2018, 21% in FY 2019 and 13% in FY 2020. The Trump administration managed to carry out what judges determined to be unlawful policies for nearly four years, and the policies imposed significant costs on employers, visa holders and the U.S. economy, likely contributing to more work and talent moving to other countries.
2022-03-17
Immigration Research Initiative;
Although expanded unemployment insurance played a large role in decreasing the number of people living in poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic, millions—most notably undocumented workers—were excluded from these benefits. The New York State Excluded Workers Fund (EWF) is the most notable example of legislation to address this gap. Passed in April 2021, the EWF approved 130,000 excluded workers to receive financial support that roughly equaled the average total amount unemployed workers eligible for unemployment compensation received, approximately $15,600 per person. To understand the experiences of workers who applied for EWF and of those that did not receive the fund, we conducted 15 interviews with workers in English, Spanish, Bangla, and Korean and 9 interviews with staff from community-based organizations serving various populations in New York and providing crucial application assistance.We found that those who received the fund were able to use it to make ends meet during a period of severe job loss bypaying back rent and other bills;repaying debt incurred during the pandemic;stabilizing or improving their housing conditions;paying for basic needs like food;investing in their children and education;taking care of their health and paying for medical expenses;stabilizing and expanding employment opportunities; andcreating local economic stimulus.We also found that the EWF had a significant impact on excluded worker recognition and their sense of power and dignity that comes from being treated as a valued member of society. We found that workers who applied but did not receive the fund because of difficulties providing the required documentation faced continuing stress around unstable income, debt burden, and other dire circumstances.Overall, New York State Department of Labor quickly and effectively adopted the EWF, but ultimately the fund ran out of money more quickly than anticipated. Although the fund was a high-impact intervention for those who benefitted, it has not provided solutions to the ongoing instability that accompanies a lack of lawful permanent status in the US.
2022-02-24
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI);
Accounting standards that are used for tangible assets are not suitable for today's digital economy, which is fuelled by intangible assets. These standards need to reflect the shift in focus from tangible to intangible assets in order for the digital economy to thrive. Intangible assets such as design branding and software are not recognized by current accounting standards unless they are purchased from a third party. Without a shift in mindset that recognizes intangible assets and reflects the new economic reality, challenges will arise in making loans and investments and in taxing value creation. The accounting profession cannot act alone in making the shift and will need support from policy makers and regulators, investors, creditors and directors to make the necessary changes.
2022-05-20
Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) at Curtin University;
Today, Indigenous Australians remain vastly under-represented or excluded from the workforce. As of 2018, less than half (49.1 per cent) of working age Indigenous Australians were in some form of employment, compared to 75.9 per cent for non-Indigenous Australians. Worryingly, that gap only closed by 1.3 per cent during the decade to 2018. Indigenous employment parity will only be achieved when Indigenous employees are present in the workforce in the same proportion as they are in the national population, at approximately 3.3 per cent. But 'true' parity extends beyond a single representation measure.The Indigenous Employment Index 2022 is the first comprehensive snapshot of Indigenous workplace representation, practices, and employee experiences ever to be carried out in Australia. Together, the participating organisations employ more than 700,000 Australians; about five per cent of the total Australian workforce, and 17,412 Indigenous Australians; around six per cent of the Indigenous workforce.This research finds that one-off measures to create Indigenous employment must give way to a more comprehensive and systemic approach. Authentic commitments, tailored strategies with targets, and a broader definition of Indigenous employment success are critical to better Indigenous employment outcomes. There is genuine commitment from participating organisations to Indigenous employment, and progress is being made, as recognised by many interview participants. There is still much work to be done, however, to improve the attraction, retention, and progression of Indigenous employees, while creating culturally safe and inclusive environments where all employees can thrive.
2022-03-15
PolicyLink;
As the United States enters its third year of navigating the global Covid-19 pandemic, the coronavirus continues to disrupt the lives of millions of workers and their families. About a quarter of the US workforce—nearly 41 million workers -- experienced at least one spell of unemployment due to the coronavirus. As of February 2022, some 3 million fewer people are employed than before the pandemic. While nearly all workers have been affected, yet these impacts are highly unequal: low-wage workers, Black workers, and other workers of color, particularly women of color, have experienced the greatest health and economic harms. This lop-sided labor market recovery has done little to buoy low-wage workers of color who continue to face heavy burdens in terms of rent debt and childcare access.
2022-04-26
Educators for Excellence;
We are excited to share these findings with you. What follows in this report are stark findings on teachers' beliefs about what will keep them in the classroom and what support and training are needed, particularly around curriculum, culturally relevant teaching, and assessments to improve teaching and learning. In addition, there is data about how teachers view their unions' support and how they think issues of race and racial history should be taught in our schools. There is a lot to share in this report and we hope that Voices from the Classroom 2022 is a first step in a very important effort to center the ideas of educators in the conversation about improving our education system for our students.With so much at stake in terms of student performance and teacher burnout, we have no time to spare. We encourage policymakers and education leaders to consider the findings from this survey as they create or change policies that will both address short-term needs created by the pandemic and also impact schools longer term, after the funding has ended and the public's attention has faded. Fellow teachers, we invite you to use these survey results to be loud and be bold — let's use our voices to capitalize on this moment.Â
2022-05-04
Center for Employment Equity, University of Massachusetts Amherst;
Labor shortages are widespread, workers are expecting higher starting wages, and after employers hire and train a new employee the risk that they will jump ship for a better paying job is probably the highest it has ever been. The cost of hiring the wrong candidate has never been higher. How can employers do a better job at hiring and retention? We talked with workforce development professionals –people who help employers find workers and young adults find jobs– to document what employers can do to make good hires, ones that last. In this report we focus on what they see as working and what tends to fail when onboarding new young employees. Our goal is to help employers examine their hiring and onboarding practices, increase the speed at which new hires become productive team members, and reduce the high financial and emotional cost of turnover from failed hires.In this environment of short-staffing and difficulty finding new employees, some firms are raising wages, offering more full-time positions, redesigning jobs to include better benefits, and offering signing bonuses. These are important, but so are more subtle aspects of onboarding, especially those having to do with developing mutual respect and trust between the employer and the new hire. Both employers and employees need hiring to be done right. In this study we share ten lessons to help employers hire right. The workforce specialists learned these lessons observing the typical mistakes employers make, sometimes over and over again.Â
2022-05-06
Ford Foundation;
We cannot allow ourselves to resume what was; we must reimagine what can be. True recovery requires us to acknowledge the unjust structures and policies that, in many ways, led to and compounded the devastation of the pandemic. It calls for us to examine our obsession with the idea of rapid growth at all costs and establish a shared understanding of inclusive, sustainable growth that results in equal opportunity—and equitable outcomes. It demands us to recognize our global web of mutuality and come together to collectively address the problems ahead with humility and reciprocity. And it challenges us to realize a bold, hopeful reimagination of our social, economic, political and governance systems, with equity and interdependence at their core.Reimagine Recovery: A Playbook for an Equitable Future offers a detailed vision of such recovery, beginning in the places we work and live and extending to our largest global stages. Like much of our work at the Ford Foundation, the playbook asks: What's possible when everyone can fully participate in society and has the opportunity to shape their lives? What's possible when we follow the lead of leaders and organizations building solutions for—and with—historically excluded communities? What's possible when we shift our old ways of operating and include equity in our execution of every policy and cultivation of every movement?
2022-05-04
American Immigration Council;
The U.S. finds itself grappling with the highest levels of inflation since the 1980s, caused largely by an imbalance between the demand and supply of both labor and goods and services. As labor makes up around two-thirds of the total production costs of private businesses, economists now worry that with the U.S. economy reaching full employment, without more workers, wage increases could push prices—and inflation—even higher.The U.S. labor force was already facing an aging crisis before the pandemic. Then COVID-19 discouraged even more people from working. On top of this, there has been record turnover among active workers, with many looking for better pay and working conditions in what is being called the Great Resignation.This leaves no clear way of meeting current labor demands domestically or filling the millions of new jobs that will be created over the next decade. While many jobs will be taken on by young people entering the workforce, demographic trends suggest that the labor market will still need immigrant workers to make up the shortfall.Using employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), data on job openings from Burning Glass, and data from the American Community Survey, we explore how immigration can help meet labor demands and steer the economy back to a sustainable growth path.
2022-06-29
Farmworker Justice;
This fact sheet examines the Fairness for Farm Workers Act, legislation to update the nation's labor laws to ensure farm workers receive fair wages and compensation. The bill would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide overtime and additional minimum wage protections for farm workers.
2022-05-23
Center for Migration Studies of New York;
As of 2021, immigrants comprised a larger share of the construction workforce than of any other sector in New York City (Office of the New York State Comptroller 2021). Between 2015 and 2019, immigrants comprised just 37 percent of the total New York City population, but 44 percent of the city's labor force and 63 percent of all its construction workers (Ruggles et al. 2021). The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) estimates that in this time period, 41 percent of the immigrant construction workforce was undocumented.Economic exploitation and safety hazards are prevalent across the entire construction industry. However, despite the essential role immigrants play in the construction industry in New York City and the United States, immigrant construction workers are especially vulnerable to exploitation and dangerous conditions. Lack of employment authorization, social safety nets, English proficiency, credentials recognition, and training opportunities, as well as discrimination place immigrants at a stark disadvantage as they try to enter, negotiate, and advance in this industry. For this report, the CMS research team interviewed 16 immigrant construction workers from 10 countries and 10 other experts in this industry, including business representatives, union organizers, and representatives of community-based organizations (CBOs). Five of these representatives were immigrants and former construction workers. With research assistance from the New York-based consulting firm Locker Associates, Inc., CMS used these interviews, together with several other data sources, to examine how construction workers in New York City find employment, their work arrangements, and barriers and conditions that endanger their health, safety, and economic well-being.
2022-05-19
Conference Board;
This is the second report of a four-part series related to use of paid child care in the U.S. and the labor force participation of mothers. The first report focused on the use of paid child care, what percent of household income is spent on child care for those families who pay for it, and what characteristics are associated with families who pay for child care. This second report examines labor force participation in greater detail to better understand labor force attachment for mothers with children over time, as well as trends across gender, race, marital status, and women with and without children, to gain a better understanding of labor force trends in which mothers with children are a subset.The ability of many working parents to participate in the labor force is highly dependent upon access to paid child care. Paid care has historically been used by working parents for approximately 20% of children in the U.S. under the age of 15.The use of paid care is most closely associated with the labor force participation of mothers. Mothers traditionally perform most of the primary care duties for children, especially for younger children. Hence, the use of paid child care is closely tied to the decision of mothers to enter or exit the labor force. At the state level, the share of children in paid child care is highly correlated with the share of mothers participating in the labor force.This report examines both long- and short-run trends in U.S. labor force participation. The two primary measures of labor force participation are defined and discussed, and key trends are examined. Many of the key labor force trends examined are related to the role of women in the labor force, particularly women with children. The influence of sex, race, income, and marital status on the participation rate is also examined, along with the variation in participation rates across the states.
